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Histories of the several regiments and battalions from North Carolina, in the great war 1861-'65: Volume 5

Blockade Running. 437
coming months before it occurred ; \mt, if they did so, they
were afraid to make their opinions public."
TIFE CltriSEKS TALLAHASSEE AXD CHICKAMArCTA.
It is a well known fact that the Army of Xorthern Virginia
was saved from starvation and surrender by the blockade-runner
Bansliec, which made a special run through the fleet
and returned to Wilmington with a cargo of commissary
stores sixteen days after the government at Richmond had
confidentially disclosed to her conuuander its dire necessity.
When Genera] Whiting's inadequate force was taxed to
the utmost in protecting the blockade-runners upon whose
service the fate of the Confederacy largely depended, two of
these valuable shi]>s, the Atalanta and Edith, were armed and
commissioned as cruisers by the Confederate States Xavy
Department under the names Tallahassee and Chickaniauga,
and were sent out along the coast to prey u]3on the enemy's
commerce, which the Alabama, Florida and Shenandoah had
d ready swept from the high seas. These untimely cruisers,
erroneously referred to by General Whiting and Governor
Vance as ])rivateers, set in motion the entire Federal navy
and caused, if possible, a more stringent blockade of the Cape
Fear river and ]u-obably the final reduction of Fort Fisher.
General Whiting wrote to Secretary Seddon 11 October,
1864, an urgent re(]uest that the attention of President Davis,
the Secretary of the Xavy and General Lee be asked at once
to the subject of the expedition of the TaUaliassee and Chick-amaiiqa,
which would deprive him of their valuable assist-ance
in the defence of the blockade In-eakers and of the Con-federate
works, and would inevitably cause the concentration
of the enemy's naval force at Cape Fear for the capture of
these "privateers" and the destruction of Fort Fisher. He
also asked attention to the fact that it was then extremely
difficult to obtain su]i]dies through the blockade, and that the
expedition of the two cruisers mentioned which made Wil-mington
the base of their operations, would result in the loss
of the Cape Fear inlets ui>oii which the Confederacy de-pended
for the necessities of life. General Whiting's warn-ing
was unheeded at Richmond, and subsequent events proved

Blockade Running. 437
coming months before it occurred ; \mt, if they did so, they
were afraid to make their opinions public."
TIFE CltriSEKS TALLAHASSEE AXD CHICKAMArCTA.
It is a well known fact that the Army of Xorthern Virginia
was saved from starvation and surrender by the blockade-runner
Bansliec, which made a special run through the fleet
and returned to Wilmington with a cargo of commissary
stores sixteen days after the government at Richmond had
confidentially disclosed to her conuuander its dire necessity.
When Genera] Whiting's inadequate force was taxed to
the utmost in protecting the blockade-runners upon whose
service the fate of the Confederacy largely depended, two of
these valuable shi]>s, the Atalanta and Edith, were armed and
commissioned as cruisers by the Confederate States Xavy
Department under the names Tallahassee and Chickaniauga,
and were sent out along the coast to prey u]3on the enemy's
commerce, which the Alabama, Florida and Shenandoah had
d ready swept from the high seas. These untimely cruisers,
erroneously referred to by General Whiting and Governor
Vance as ])rivateers, set in motion the entire Federal navy
and caused, if possible, a more stringent blockade of the Cape
Fear river and ]u-obably the final reduction of Fort Fisher.
General Whiting wrote to Secretary Seddon 11 October,
1864, an urgent re(]uest that the attention of President Davis,
the Secretary of the Xavy and General Lee be asked at once
to the subject of the expedition of the TaUaliassee and Chick-amaiiqa,
which would deprive him of their valuable assist-ance
in the defence of the blockade In-eakers and of the Con-federate
works, and would inevitably cause the concentration
of the enemy's naval force at Cape Fear for the capture of
these "privateers" and the destruction of Fort Fisher. He
also asked attention to the fact that it was then extremely
difficult to obtain su]i]dies through the blockade, and that the
expedition of the two cruisers mentioned which made Wil-mington
the base of their operations, would result in the loss
of the Cape Fear inlets ui>oii which the Confederacy de-pended
for the necessities of life. General Whiting's warn-ing
was unheeded at Richmond, and subsequent events proved